Chasing the Moon

“Do you want anything to eat? That dream must have been pretty bad,” Jack told me as I walked into the kitchen.

“I suppose I should eat,” I mumbled, collapsing on one of the chairs at the table. “But what do you mean?”

Jack turned to me, dropping a plate down in front of me. I kept my eyes on it for a second before glancing back up to my company. He looked a bit anxious.

“You were screaming and trembling violently. Gabby, I thought you were dying!”

“It was that bad, huh?” I absolutely hated when I had nightmares. I always ended up screaming and talking in my sleep, my body trying to keep up with everything my mind was throwing at it.

“It was a lot worse than I could possibly tell you.” Jack bit his lip as he wandered over to his chair.

“So why are you still single?” I asked randomly, trying to get off of this subject. He smiled dryly.

“I was one ugly-ass baby, like most of the men here. Some of them were a little nice, but I was a jackass. Now I’m nice and damn fine, but I have responsibilities. A family would tie me down.”

I remembered my little Aiden telling me about his ugly duckling stage. But I had been such a beautiful baby, as I’d been told.

“Really? What do you do?”

Maybe all the girls were just born beautiful and sweet while the guys were ugly jerks. After all, the girls needed to be compensated for the fact that they were more likely to die as babies than boys. The trade hardly seemed fair as I thought of my little Hailey.

“I’m a bit of a watchdog.” He paused to laugh at his joke. I rolled my eyes, giggling despite myself. “I make sure no vampires or werewolves or humans get anywhere near our home. We’re only allowed to let hybrids know of this place. It’s top secret.”

“That’s why you asked me twenty-five questions when you found me?” I laughed as he blushed a little.

“I haven’t exactly perfected the whole tell-what-they-are-by-sniffing-them approach. It’s harder than it seems, especially since a lot of the hybrids hang out with wolves or leeches or even humans. Those scents get on them and it’s hard to tell if they’re that or a hybrid.”

“Oh.”

The rest of breakfast was spent in silence. We didn’t attempt at much conversation since Jack was stuffing his face with food while I was thinking about what I had left behind. I could only hope I’d made the right decision.

Jack stood up abruptly and darted to the door. I got up and followed him, but he told me to stay in the house. He left hastily, and I had no idea what was going on.

Of course I never did follow directions well.

When he was out of view, I darted out after him. He was running out of the village and back into the open field where he had found me. I hid behind a tree and watched as his body went rigid.

All of a sudden I saw Marshall step out into the clearing.

And that couldn’t be good.